Is the "hicky" actor in GOP ad a non-story?

Sam Stein digs into the question of whether national Republicans were in any way responsible for the casting call that asked for "hicky blue collar" actors to play regular Joes bashing Obama in the NRSC ad in West Virginia.

The story has been "driving the day" ever since Politico popped it this morning, and some outlets are asserting flatly that an "NRSC casting call" used the "hicky" language.

But as Sam notes, there are no signs anyone directly associated with the NRSC ever used that language, and indeed, buried in the Politico story there was this: "The casting language did not come from the NRSC."

What seems to have happened is that the NRSC's independent expenditure unit -- which is walled off from the NRSC strategic offices -- asked one of its vendors to round up the actors for the ad. That vendor is Jamestown Associates, which then contacted a Philadelphia talent agency in hopes of getting actors for the ad. Someone at that talent agency -- whose name is undetermined as of now -- used the language in an email sent around looking for actors.

If this is the case, then the language wasn't even used by anyone at the entity that was contracted by the NRSC. As for the actors themselves, actors appear in ads on both sides -- it's the "hicky" language that made this a story.

I don't really fault Dems for jumping on this. Republicans would have done the same, and as Ben Smith notes, this is a time-honored genre of political hit. But if it's true that the person who used the "hicky" language was twice removed from the NRSC, I'm with Sam: I'm not sure this should be driving our day.

This is no time to be all ethical with the republican party. The fact is that the ad is misleading - they got actors playing "down home" looking people to star in their ad. The client, the NRSC surely approved the concept. It just proves what the Rs think about blue collar voters.

Well, I suppose they could, but they really aren't actually responsible for it. They are responsible for the type of ad they wanted to run--why not focus on that?

The client is rarely (if ever) going to have anything to do with the language of a casting call, and, even if they suggested they wanted a certain type, the actual solicitation is going to handled by the agency (or whoever the agency uses to come up with actors and models for advertisements).

You might as well as attack them for having the temerity to want to produce an add. "They should have known that one of the actors was, in fact, a card carrying Democrat! Can't they take responsibility for this travesty?"

Also, I expect campaign cycles move pretty fast with their advertising, so there's not a lot of back and forth, step-by-step approval for ever bit and piece of the campaign.

Good reporting. Of course, there's Beck earlier this week doing his "hicky" interpretation of the Tennessee home-fire fellow's accent.

And, on some earlier discussion of the rightwing's susceptibility to the charge of lack of compassion for those suffering, there's this story...

"Now, a group of Missouri tea partiers have found a new target: regulations that would mandate more humane conditions in the state’s puppy mills"
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/10/07/missouri-plumber-ballot-puppies/

@lcrider: "The fact is that the ad is misleading - they got actors playing "down home" looking people to star in their ad. The client, the NRSC surely approved the concept. It just proves what the Rs think about blue collar voters."

I worry for our electorate (not to mention our commercial-watching public) if anybody believes that this is unique, that this is the first time, that 90% of political (and all other) commercials aren't scripted and staged, and that the remaining 10% aren't manipulatively edited.

Good golly. I'm hoping there isn't anybody out there who, watching this commercial, without these scandalous revelations, would have thought, "Wow, I wonder how those cameramen just happened upon these folks discussing politics and recorded for this political commercial. That was certainly good luck for his campaign, eh?"

In case you're curious . . . if it's on TV, it's staged. If it's a commercial, it's definitely staged. Even if it's found footage or hidden-camera footage, it's editorially manipulated, participants have to sign releases . . . and most of the time, it's scripted.

Goodness. I hope everybody understands that all advertising is trying to sell you something, and not trying to be your friend or help you out.

Yup, when the targets are white people, Politico and the entire press are up in arms over it. Of course, when the ad is like the one Sharon Angle put out recently where the purpose is to make whites scared of the sinister looking brown people, Politico will laud the ad for how great it is and so forth.

Remember the 3AM ad by Team Hillary? The actress in the ad was an Obama supporter. Team Hillary got pounded over using stock footage (and fear-mongering, you can't forget the fear-mongering) of an actress who was a huge Obama fan.

My point is that the NRSC, and all campaigns, need to be far more cognizant of the marketing material that is being formulated in their names. They can't expect to be able to disavow their own product, regardless of how it was manufactured. After all, it is their money that is being used and it has their name on it.

They, and all campaign managers, should know better. This has come up before and will come up again.

PS – Just writing the term “Team Hillary” reminds me of how much I loathe Mark Pen and Lanny Davis. Hillary I'm okay with, but her team? Not so much.

The Republican Party is dead in the water. It's sole existence right now is as a phantom party while the real Republican Party -- Big Money, Big Energy, Big Insurance, Big Finance -- gets to work subjugating the entire United States of America to their profiteering interests.

Ethan2010 @ October 7, 2010 2:58 PM Wrote "They can't take responsibility for THEIR OWN AD? What are they, in the 5th grade?"

Sadly (for them and especially us), they have not advanced even to the 5th grade. A normal 5th-grader at least tries to appear sad or upset when caught. The Republicans/Conservatives/Tea Partiers simply refuse to acknowledge that they have any responsibility or accountability.

@PaciolisRevenge: "They can't expect to be able to disavow their own product"

It's worth noting that the finished add, and a casting call, are not the same thing.

It might be equally scandalous to discover, after an ad (about Apple Pie and American Flags) hits the air, that while they were videotaping, some of the actors had been inebriated. However, that's not the same as having a poorly considered ad that seems to promote underage drinking. The campaign would have had to approve the latter ad--they would have had no idea (and no opportunity to sign off on) the early morning cocktails some of the actors (who all not-so-secretly hate the candidate they are taping the ad for) had been drinking.

There's almost certainly no point in the production process where the campaign would have seen the wording of a casting call, not even if it had gone out from the original agency and had not been subcontracted.

Which is not a defense of the ad (which I haven't seen) or political advertising in general, but I think--just as important as who funds what--people ought to have at least a basic understanding of how ads get made.

But Gingrich couldn’t quite wrap his head around the fact that food stamps have a stimulative effect on the economy:

GINGRICH: Well, you know, I carry around a bumper sticker that says 2 plus 2 equals 4. So I’d be very curious how a dollar given to somebody becomes a $1.79. And I think if we could get that to work with the U.S. Treasuries, so if people gave the Treasury $1,000, it became $1,790, we could pay off the federal debt and never worry about spending or anything. I mean, I — you know, somehow, I don’t understand how liberal math turns $1 into $1.79

A national telephone survey finds that just 36% of voters now say relations between blacks and whites are getting better. That’s down from 62% in July of last year at the height of the controversy involving a black Harvard professor and a white policeman. That number had fallen only slightly to 55% in April of this year.

_________________________________

Seems like Obama has FAILED to improve race relations too. So all the democrats who voted for Obama thinking that his election would lead to "racial harmony" - that did NOT work.

I suppose that making False Charges of Racism over policy differences - that doesn't help "race relations"

Obama has FAILED on the stimulus.

Obama has a $1.3 TRILLION dollar DEFICIT

Obama is SOFT ON TERRORISM.

Obama lied about Afghan war policy.

Obama WANTS the mosque at Ground Zero

Obama's health care plan is a DRAG on Hiring - and is leading to the Great Obama Economic Stagnation.

If the American People don't get the democrats OUT of Congress as fast as possible, this country is going to be in SERIOUS TROUBLE.

WHAT is AMAZING: The democrats say they "haven't finished" their agenda - they still want to TRIPLE your electricity bills and put into effect more of their far-left agenda which will DRAG THE ECONOMY DOWN FURTHER.

You are missing the point. The campaign (or the NRSC in this case) was making an ad for WV using outside contractors from out of state. That, in and of itself, should be a no-no, especially if the ad in question has people portraying West Virginians.

"There's almost certainly no point in the production process where the campaign would have seen the wording of a casting call, not even if it had gone out from the original agency and had not been subcontracted."

How is that relevant? You want to blame the contractor/agency, but who hired the contractors? Who went with an out of state contractor? Who failed to provide the contractors with a set of instructions that would have limited their political liability?

I'd guess the NRSC went with a low bidder on this ad and didn't exercise proper oversight. That is their fault and their fault alone.

This is just a pimple, and no amount of words of outrage are going to turn it into a mountain. It was just PR people using internal short hand to outline the type image they wanted to cast to fill the roles.

Focus on the big issues, instead of trying to score points over silly crap.

The issue is, That in order to meet the RNC description of what they wanted in the commercial, did the casting company follow directions by casting for hicks? The RNC seemed to think so,at least by the amount of air play they gave the commercial before the sh*7 the fan. The RNC seemed to have no problem airing a commercial that portrayed WV folks as hicks. Know your audience.

'Hicksville eh? Mildly sinister, maybe.
But guess what else is going on, especially in the Midwest states?
Some factory wholesale producers' are having some of their employees show up for work at the beginning of their shift ... and then immediately sending them home. No work that day.
One can find some of this within the "Temp" work force in any economy, but imagine the impact of this on some, ... in October, just before a general election on November 2nd, 2010.
Somebody out there must like "their" voters to be lean, mean and hungry. ... Why?

"the NRSC went with a low bidder on this ad and didn't exercise proper oversight. That is their fault and their fault alone."

Precisely.

This is a big deal because it shows just how utterly incompetent and irresponsible the Republican political apparatus really is. Every single ad they've put out is suspect.

Again, it's all just cover for the REAL Republican Party... the Big Money special interests behind American Crossroads, Americans for Prosperity, 60-Plus, U.S. chamber of Commerce, and the list goes on and on and on and on.

THAT's why this is a story.

And THAT's why the Republicans are scared that this has drawn so much attention.

There can literally be no doubt in anyone's mind that this is the case. The Republican Party is exclusively a Big Money, Corporate Special Interest party that outsources the entirety of their politics to these special interests for targeted PR campaigns.

American Crossroads/GPS
Americans for Prosperity
60-Plus
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Koch Industries "Hot Air Tour"

@PaciolisRevenge: "You are missing the point. The campaign (or the NRSC in this case) was making an ad for WV using outside contractors from out of state. That, in and of itself, should be a no-no, especially if the ad in question has people portraying West Virginians."

Well, I'll just tell, you from my experience, that's how it usually works. There is nothing unusual about this. You find it's just anothe reason to hate Republicans? Awesome. I'm just telling you--this isn't remotely unusual. You will find this is also true of most campaign ads, especially those that have national input. Or campaigns that bring in consultants from out of state who have agencies they have relationships with (which is one of the reasons you might contract certain consultants).

Not to over-use one of my favorite metaphors, but how it happened is how the sausage is made. You may not like it when you find out that tasty morning sausage is actually stuffed with ground up pig parts, but . . . it actually is. Out of state actors portray folks in a given state (or in an implied position) all the time.

Actors frequently portray real people in testimonial ads, even though though don't actually come from the state of the person whose testimonial they are dramatizing. Occasionally, an actor of a different race or even gender reads a testimonial. It's practically fraud!

Or, as some might call it, advertising.

"How is that relevant? You want to blame the contractor/agency, but who hired the contractors? Who went with an out of state contractor? Who failed to provide the contractors with a set of instructions that would have limited their political liability?"

It's entirely relevant. The sort of political litmus test you're suggesting is not only practically impossible to administer to the folks you hire on a campaign (and this is true on either side, which is why Democrats involved in advertising and crafting campaign commercials are not jumping to attack on this), but, depending on what sort of litmus test might be proposed (such as being a member of the correct party, so as not to sabotage the production with poorly worded casting calls) might be actionable in court.

It's not a standard people with a product to sell could meet (and this is just as true of the Democrats, or Ralph Nader, for that matter), and I can pretty much guarantee you there is no authentic expectation regarding anyone who works on political advertising, or in advertising in general, that they should have been in control of the language on a call sheet sent out by a 3rd party. Or the decision to contract "non West Virginian" labor.

"I'd guess the NRSC went with a low bidder on this ad and didn't exercise proper oversight. That is their fault and their fault alone."

You mean it's their fault that this ad was made pretty much the way all such ads were made? Yes, indeed, they are solely to blame for their business-as-usual approach.

The gist of your comment seems to be thus, A) It is impossible to make ads in West Virginia B) This is the way it is done, everyone does it, suck it up.

I've never been to West Virginia, but I'd be amazed if there weren't actors, or advertising agencies, there. Of course the NRSC could have had the ad made in West Virginia. And yes, they could have issued instructions to an ad agency outlining what kind of language was acceptable. Using language that demeans the people you are trying to convince to buy your goods is usually not a good idea.

This is, indeed, the way it has been done in the past. And that has hurt candidates. This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened. That is why I'd suggest that ALL campaigns, regardless of party, make their state specific ads in the state the ads target. I'd also suggest a strong set of internal controls that limit political liability by outlining what kind of language is strictly prohibited by all agencies and contractors. That way if this kind of thing happens they at least can point to their written policies and say, "Hey, ad agency X went against our direct instructions." I'd also ban the use of stock footage, it is too hard to vet.

But your bigger point seems to be that the Republicans aren't responsible for anything ever. While that is a common sentiment amongst Republicans, I find it sad and pathetic.

As usual, stereotyping hard-working hill people as mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging hicks gets a GINORMOUS reaction from lefturds like Weigel and DNC shills at POLITICO like Mike Allen, but when SNL does the same with Appalachian Hospital, it’s all yucky yuck okay because libturds are exempt from racism and ethnic stereotyping.

Anderson Cooper is a total gay dude whose contempt for straights is only exceeded by the straights’ completely ignoring his unwatched CNN show 360. Looks like 60 Minutes has taken him off their roster because his “teabaggers” slur was too much even for the staunchly libturd DNC stenographers at the CBS agitprop program.

@Paciolis: "The gist of your comment seems to be thus, A) It is impossible to make ads in West Virginia"

No, not at all. It's also possible to buy books in WV, but I guarantee you there are people in WV who buy books on Amazon. I know it's possible to shoot TV shows in LA, but then you have LA production companies shooting series up in Vancouver. Not saying it's impossible, just saying it happens that actors play people from cities they don't live it quite a lot. Even in political advertisements.

"This is the way it is done, everyone does it,"

I think that's, um, kind of relevant.

"suck it up."

Nope. Didn't say that.

"And yes, they could have issued instructions to an ad agency outlining what kind of language was acceptable."

For the casting call? Okay. Yeah, I guess they could have. You could also give your yard guy a list of acceptable curse words, and I don't know that it never happens, but would that be typical? Expected? Seems like it's just a "gotcha" to me. If it turns out they didn't provide guidelines for the casting call, that specifically forbid using the word "hick" or "hayseed" (never mind that they'd then be in trouble for _that_, and you know they would be) and then somebody did anyway, then they'd be responsible for not insisting that the reviewing the 3rd party call sheet from the casting service contracted by their advertising agency.

I don't think this is a criticism that takes place in the real world, is what I'm saying.

" I'd also ban the use of stock footage"

Trying to put our hard-working American stock footage houses out of work, are you? ;)

@PaciolisRevege: "But your bigger point seems to be that the Republicans aren't responsible for anything ever."

No, my larger point is that it's better to operate from reality rather than finger-pointing gotcha fantasies.

Where have I suggested that this would somehow be different if it were a Democrat? If there was questionable language in a casting call for Democrats, and someone was saying it was outrageous that the Democrat candidate didn't vet the casting call from a 3rd party casting service for mildly offensive language, I'd suggest the same thing: that that person has very little experience with advertising, and is, frankly, just barking up the wrong tree. If there's something wrong with this candidate, you aren't going to find it here.

"While that is a common sentiment amongst Republicans, I find it sad and pathetic."

What I find, well, let's just say "regrettable", is that despite having said nothing to imply, or from which you could rationally infer, that Republicans were somehow not responsible for anything ever, or that I would hold any Democrat or liberal or used car salesman to any different kind of standard, you leap to this absurd proposition that I'm arguing in favor of reality-based thinking solely because it gives Republicans a pass.

The Democratic Party largely seeks to strengthen the American middle class and working families.

While corporate interests have bought out many "conservative" Democrats, by and large the majority of the Democratic Party is VERY real and VERY concerned about the direction of the country, as opposed to the profit margin of massive -- in many cases multinational -- special interest corporations.

“I wouldn’t have been upset if they said we want coal miners and truckers,” he told me. “Those are 2 of the most honorable professions we have- hard-working people. But to cast that in such a disparaging light is just awful. And that does get your blood boiling in West Virginia whether you’re a democrat, republican, or an independent. It should get them fired up.”

[...]

...Raese campaign says it never wanted this ad to air in the first place:

“The ad is ridiculous and I am happy to say that no one with the Raese campaign had anything to do with it. As a matter of fact, we asked that it be taken down long before it went public,” Raese Press Secretary, Kevin McLaughlin said in a statement.

But this ad was done as an independent expenditure by the NRSC, which means it could be a violation of FEC rules if the Raese campaign saw the ad before it went public. Independent expenditure ads by party committees are not allowed to be coordinated with the campaigns of individual candidates.

Like the time they caught that guy at the restaurant, cooking the food. Or that time they caught the truck driver, driving his truck. Or that time I got caught filling my pool up. With water. From a hose.

What, "caught"? The decision of whoever put the casting call out is one thing, but the rest of it . . . its how advertising is done. Not only is it typical, there's nothing "wrong" with hiring a casting service, or employing ads from another city because the casting director knows a guy who knows a guy . . .

"Sure, everybody puts gas in their car. But they don't all get CAUGHT DOING IT! GOTCHA!"

Is "hicky" to be added to the growing list of words that are not allowed? Is it possible to lose one's career by saying that word? Is it possible for that word to change the outcome of an election? I wish that the Democrats would grow up.

You have no idea what you're talking about if you think a major ad client would allow an ad to run without inspecting it carefully.

"Mistakes" like this are entirely the CLIENT's fault.

But it wasn't a "mistake," except in the political sense. It was purposefully designed to cater to "hickey" West Virginians. That is wasn't STOPPED by the NRSC before the final edit was produced is the major embarrassment to the Republican Party here.

Don't believe me?

“The ad is ridiculous and I am happy to say that no one with the Raese campaign had anything to do with it."

~ Raese Press Secretary, Kevin McLaughlin

It is both insulting to rural Americans in West Virginia AND a perfect example of the incompetence and irresponsibility of the Republican Party elite.

And THAT is why you have all of these special interest groups and their massive corporate-funded PR campaigns.

Without these massive corporations to spend tens or hundreds of millions of dollars the GOP would be DEAD IN THE WATER.

The Democratic Party largely seeks to strengthen the American middle class and working families.

Posted by: Ethan2010 | October 7, 2010 4:54 PM
-------

I'll point out that they do a pee poor job of it, even though I've been warned about feeding trolls like Ethan. Gingrich was about right when he called Dems the party of foodstamps---that's why Nancy P's panties were bunched in a wad over the comment.

I remember back when the Republicans were caught behind closed doors laughing and calling the christians who voted for them "nutjobs" a few years back.

Of course Republicans really think the American people are "hicks" and "nutjobs". As proven time and again, they can so easily manipulate them on behalf of Wall Street to vote against their best interests. No solutions or ideas necessary. Just toss out a few "death panels" or "socialism" lies...repeat endlessly...and BINGO!

OK, people. I'm FROM West Virginia and I see that miserable puke-inducing ad whenever I have the TV on. I could care LESS where the actors are from or how they were described in some memo between twits working in or with a casting agency.

What I care about is that Joe Manchin, who is generally highly-regarded here (and has, I think, MOSTLY earned those marks) could quite possibly lose his race against John Raese. Raese is (IMHO) an odious slug firmly committed to lining his own pockets and working against the vast majority of WV's citizens.

Raese's own commercials use the tag line, "I won't be a rubber stamp to Barack Obama." Clever, effective, and totally bogus. The fact that Raese would be an obsequious rubber stamp to the DeMints of the world and espouses policies that will make peoples' lives worse won't matter enough, I fear. But 30-second political ads aren't about thought, of course--they're about anti-thought. Sorry to say that too many of my fellow West Virginians, who are typically genuinely admirable folk (generous, hard-working, etc.) won't be investing enough thought in this matter.

For the record, I'm a centrist, not a liberal. While not native to WV, I've lived here for over 40 years, and my daughters were born here. I really love this place, and it will disappoint me considerably should Raese beat Manchin.

The Republican Party has been reduced to a ghost party that owes its existence to massive corporations and their Big Money front groups.

Are you blind?

Look:

American Crossroads/GPS
Americans for Prosperity
60-Plus
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Koch Industries "Hot Air Tour"

How many millions upon millions upon millions of dollars have CORPORATE outside special interest groups spent trying to buy seats in the U.S. Government this election cycle?

How many millions?

Where is the line?

The Republican Party has no line. There is no Republican Party anymore. The Right would be NOTHING politically without massive amounts of spending by the corporate special interest groups and everyone here knows it.

Hey brigade...is sitting here all day long making asinine responses to every comment REALLY the best way to be using your welfare check? Most people use it to go out and look for work or feed their kids...you know...something USEFUL.

The Republican Party has no line. There is no Republican Party anymore. The Right would be NOTHING politically without massive amounts of spending by the corporate special interest groups and everyone here knows it.

Posted by: Ethan2010
___________________________

Do you think the Democratic party is better? Been to a protest recently? I see them all the time, and half the time I can't tell what they are protesting. You want to talk about money, how about the teachers unions, or labor unions, or MoveOn, or any of the other hundreds of special interest groups. Do you think George Soros is a positive influence on the Dems with his Billions?

You are kidding yourself if you think they are better somehow. Obama raised most of his money from small donors of $200 or less right? Wrong.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/22/politics/washingtonpost/main4538028.shtml

Plum jobs (no pun intended) go to only qualified and not as political paybacks right?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31292932/

How about that welcome home ad that Rahm has been pushing here in Chicago that was made by a DC firm?

Where is the line that Democrats won't drop below in asking people of this country for the slightest bit in return? Are you proud of a party that went from "Ask not what your country can do" to "how much more can we pay off the poor to vote for us?"

Don't lecture people about the evils of the Republican party. I'm not one of them. And don't kid yourself that your chosen ones are sent from heaven to save our eternal souls.

Yes, the Democrats are WAY WAY WAY better. Not perfect, but WAY WAY WAY better.

"how about the teachers unions, or labor unions, or MoveOn"

How about them? Teachers teach children. Unions are our country's bluecollar workforce. MoveOn is a grassroots group that has had some larger contributions but mainly gets their funds from Americans.

That is not even REMOTELY the same thing as being funded by massive corporations!

It's like you're playing dumb. You can't possibly be that stupid as to think that corporations -- whose ONLY, yes ONLY, motivation is their own profit -- is the equivalent of TEACHERS who TEACH OUR CHILDREN and our blue collar workers who work long tedious hours making products for Americans.

Maybe you ARE that dumb. But I'm sorry, I'm not. Corporate influence over American politics is destroying this country. Plain and simple. And that destruction is being cheer-led by the remnants of the old Republican Party.

I don't give a damn if the guy was 100 people removed; the Republicans ran the ad, and it's cowardly and sickening that you just let them off the hook.

These are anti-American creeps. Quit making excuses for them, lightweight.

Posted by: 2229
________________________

At what point do you stop trying to blame for the actions of others? Its called personal responsibility, you should try it.

As far the illegal war, I'm not clear what you mean. Are you talking about the Iraq war that was authorized by congress in 2002, or the Afghanistan invasion that while never implicitly authorized, continues to be funded by Congress to this day?
Or the illegal presidential powers that Obama immediately stopped upon his innauguration. You'll have to remind me what those are, because I don't remember any charges being brought, or actions being stopped.

Or how the Bush administration was the worst in history. Yes, I remember clearly how he cowed the Supreme Court into submission by threatening to pack more judges in there, and how he locked up all the muslims into concentration camps. Ooo, do you remember when he authorized the breaking and entering of the democratic headquarters?

Ah yes, it seems like only yesterday when we were discussing the Teapot Dome scandal, and how many people from the Bush administration would go to jail.

Hey brigade...is sitting here all day long making asinine responses to every comment REALLY the best way to be using your welfare check? Most people use it to go out and look for work or feed their kids...you know...something USEFUL.

Posted by: wilder5121 | October 7, 2010 6:45 PM
----

It isn't "day" fool. I worked all day to pay taxes for supporting deadbeats like you. Don't bother to thank me. Do some more crack and go to bed.

Bailers in a fog:
"Or how the Bush administration was the worst in history."

It's about time you realized. Most Americans, and everybody in the rest of the world, certainly.

You want to stick your head up your own butt and pretend Bush and Cheney weren't war criminals, go right ahead. You have a right to be a deluded liar. Bush and Cheney should have already been executed for treason, war crimes, corporate crimes, illegal executive power, illegal energy policy...you can't win, Brickhead. The facts get in the way of your lies.

Brigade: "Take Wilder and go get some free government cheese. I work hard to pay for it so you won't starve."

I doubt you even have a job. Blowhard liars like you rarely tell the truth.

" I'm what you call a compassionate conservative."

You're what I call a blustering liar. You're a hating Tea Bagger, with no love for your own country. There's no such thing as a Tea Idiot with compassion that I've seen. Give Beck a big smooch on his butt, OK?

Hey brigade...is sitting here all day long making asinine responses to every comment REALLY the best way to be using your welfare check? Most people use it to go out and look for work or feed their kids...you know...something USEFUL.

Posted by: wilder5121 | October 7, 2010 6:45 PM
----

It isn't "day" fool. I worked all day to pay taxes for supporting deadbeats like you. Don't bother to thank me. Do some more crack and go to bed.
=====

There you go again. Another asinine response. It took you over HALF AN HOUR to make that one up?

Try doing something more useful with those 30+ minutes...like calculating how much of your welfare check you just wasted coming up with such a lame excuse for yourself. Or better yet, spend a few minutes writing a thank you note to the rest of us for supporting your "hobby" here. If you did that...we wouldn't mind supporting you so much.

We might even be okay with that case of beer you bought with our money...and have so obviously finished drinking.

You want to stick your head up your own butt and pretend Bush and Cheney weren't war criminals, go right ahead. You have a right to be a deluded liar. Bush and Cheney should have already been executed for treason, war crimes, corporate crimes, illegal executive power, illegal energy policy...you can't win, Brickhead. The facts get in the way of your lies.

Posted by: 2229
___________________

I should have married Heidi Klum and should have been born rich so I could buy that Bugatti Veyron that I've wanted. What's your point? Until there are convictions, you are just chasing at windmills with your vision of all the illegal actions.

Given the content of your other posts, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you can't distinguish between a centrist and a liberal (hey, when you're on the bottom, everything looks like "up."). But no matter. You aren't inclined to do so anyway. After all, you've dedicated all seven of your neurons to writing snarky but otherwise totally pointless comments. I'm thinking that you're not among the thoughtful conservative voices I want to hear . . . .

I suspect that most West Virginians were "OK" with the casting of this commercial and already know that city folks call them "hicks." I know a number of very sophisticated people in rural Virginia, North Carolina and West Virginia who refer to themselves as "hicks."

Yes Greg, its a non-story. It will be dropped by the news cycle in 24 to 36 hours. O'Donnell's witch dabbling (also a non-story) had been on the way out, but for that creepy commercial she ran. Amazingly she brought it up again which gave it new life. Bad strategic move on her part.

Sam, I live in West Virginia and you are correct, this is a non story! I watched the ad before it was pulled and was not offended by it in the least. Part of the problem is the media. If any news worthy item happens in WV the media will interview
the person with the worst grammer and the least education. Besides, it was the ad agency, not the republican party. For the record, I am not a Republican. No amount of advertising will chnage the result of this election anyway. The people who vote for Rease in reality voting against the Obama administrations agenda.

Sam, I live in West Virginia and you are correct, this is a non story! I watched the ad before it was pulled and was not offended by it in the least. Part of the problem is the media. If any news worthy item happens in WV the media will interview
the person with the worst grammer and the least education. Besides, it was the ad agency, not the republican party. For the record, I am not a Republican. No amount of advertising will chnage the result of this election anyway. The people who vote for Rease in reality voting against the Obama administrations agenda.

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